I was browsing the internet and came across this article
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32756481/ns/business-real_estate. The meat of the article, I don't really care about. We all already know why we're in this mess It's the secondary headline that caught my attention.
Official says a strong housing market is crucial for the economy
Why is a strong housing market crucial? We're talking about people selling houses to each other -- and wall street, banks, realtors, mortgage agents skimming off fees on each transaction. Exactly what benefit is this to the economy? I can see plenty of benefits to the parasites in the financial industry but don't see much to people who then have to pay more for housing.
The U.S. has thrown trillions of dollars at wall street and housing trying to stimulate the economy -- does anybody feel it's working? By comparison, China's stimulus has gone directly to infrastructure. This article at
http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/03/news/international/china_high_speed_bullet_train.fortune/ says $50B going to high-speed rail. Another article
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10318431-54.html says China is planning the world's biggest solar plant. From my view on the ground, China's stimulus is working far better than the U.S.'s. I see people working, shopping, embarking on business ventures -- the level of activity is astounding.
To circle back, why do we have this neurotic infatuation with housing in the United States? How much better would the economy be running if people instead thought "low housing prices = lower costs = bigger return for industries that actually produced something of value"?
(Filed in china, economics, housing)
Follow-ups to some of my previous posts: Website Changes The web user interface is now consistent across all screens. In addition, some previously missing functionality has been restored. Copied style from Home (last 10 entries) to Category Archives an... Read More
Reality check on housing
Posted by Mossy
September 9, 2009 3:42 PM
Why is a strong housing market crucial? We're talking about people selling houses to each other -- and wall street, banks, realtors, mortgage agents skimming off fees on each transaction. Exactly what benefit is this to the economy? I can see plenty of benefits to the parasites in the financial industry but don't see much to people who then have to pay more for housing.
The U.S. has thrown trillions of dollars at wall street and housing trying to stimulate the economy -- does anybody feel it's working? By comparison, China's stimulus has gone directly to infrastructure. This article at http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/03/news/international/china_high_speed_bullet_train.fortune/ says $50B going to high-speed rail. Another article http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10318431-54.html says China is planning the world's biggest solar plant. From my view on the ground, China's stimulus is working far better than the U.S.'s. I see people working, shopping, embarking on business ventures -- the level of activity is astounding.
To circle back, why do we have this neurotic infatuation with housing in the United States? How much better would the economy be running if people instead thought "low housing prices = lower costs = bigger return for industries that actually produced something of value"?
(Filed in china, economics, housing)
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Follow-ups to some of my previous posts: Website Changes The web user interface is now consistent across all screens. In addition, some previously missing functionality has been restored. Copied style from Home (last 10 entries) to Category Archives an... Read More
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